Dominic Ingle has pointed out that Tyson Fury’s change of attack against Derek Chisora likely helped him health-wise more than his corner team did.
Many called the bout a foregone conclusion, and they were proved right as ‘The Gypsy King’ imposed his authority from the start. Chisora, despite immense heart, never really had a look in.
Much was made during the fight about Fury perhaps stepping off slightly, or throwing shots with less intent, in order to avoid any unnecessary damage to his opponent and old friend.
Ingle, who trained Kell Brook, agrees. He told Boxing King Media that Fury’s efforts were to ‘save’ Chisora when his trainer, Don Charles, wasn’t throwing in the towel.
“I think Tyson Fury did a better job of protecting Derek Chisora than his corner did. He just started going steady on him, hitting him to the body. Obviously they’re fighters, and Tyson Fury could have probably taken him out at any point.
But he’s not a horrible man, Tyson Fury. He’s a boxer, he’s a fighter and he understands – and he probably realised at that point as well halfway through the fight that Derek Chisora was absolutely no risk to him whatsoever, and kind of saved him a little bit.”
As for showing a little mercy, Ingle said it’s not uncommon in the sport and floated the idea that it might be the right way to approach things rather than looking for highlight reel knockouts against a gone opponent.
“You see fighters sometimes when they’ve got the other fighter on the point of a knockout and they’re absolutely all over the place and they pull back. A lot of fighters do it. They don’t give them the finishing shot which is not needed. It does happen in fights, and maybe that’s the way it should be.”
Finally, the Wincobank gym man said that referees, despite the air of the occasion, must make their decisions solely on the basis of how a fight is playing out. Victor Loughlin stopped the contest in the tenth, but many felt it could have been called rounds earlier.
“Once a fighter is getting outclassed, the referee has the ability, the authority, to step in and wave it off. But I think because obviously it’s supposed to be a big fight with Tyson Fury, they’ve got to let it go and justify why they’re putting Chisora in with him. Well, you can’t do that. This fight shouldn’t really have been happening. I think everybody talking it beforehand.”
Fury now looks to move on to tougher tests in the division, namely Oleksandr Usyk and Joe Joyce.